Championship boss targets Sheffield United and Sunderland shocks after Sheffield Wednesday boost

If Sheffield United are looking for a favour from elsewhere tonight then the omens around the Stadium of Light are very much against them.

Luton Town begin part one of a double-header against two of the top four this week, with a trip to Sunderland followed by the hosting of the Blades at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.

The struggling Hatters have had a slight lift since Matt Bloomfield arrived recently but he’ll have to bridge a 50-year gap if Luton are to get a win this evening.

Not since September 1973 have Luton beaten Sunderland away but ahead of taking on the Black Cats and the Blades, Bloomfield is confident and has looked at a point picked up away to Sheffield Wednesday in their last match almost two weeks ago, as a reason to be positive ahead of a challenging period.

“There’s never a better time [to beat Sunderland away],” Bloomfield told Luton Today. “It’s a massive football club, I’ve had some great trips there over the years and records are there to be broken right? So let’s look forward to going there and doing our best to do that.

"If you look at it, there were five defeats in a row before we came, we get a draw in the first game [against Preston]. No clean sheet since November, we ticked that one off, no point on the road for 12 games, so we have to be pleased with the work we’re doing but go after more as I want to be winning games, that’s what we want to be doing.”

He added: “​The expectation is on [Sunderland] to go and beat us because of where they are in the league. Everyone’s expecting us to get beat, but we got a good point away at Sheffield Wednesday and we believe in what we’re trying to do.”

Having not played since drawing at Wednesday on February 1, rather than have a break, Luton have been working hard on the training field as Bloomfield attempts to hammer home his way of playing on his new team since arriving from Wycombe in mid-January.

"We want to improve results, we want to improve performances, the lads are right on board with that,” he said. They understand there’s plenty of time for us to rest when the timing is right, and it wasn’t right, right now. We needed to work, we’ve got two really big, tough games coming up this week and what we tried to do is go after a block of work that will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season.”

On a night where Sunderland host Luton, the Blades welcome Middlesbrough to Bramall Lane, while Burnley take on a somewhat resurgent Hull City. On Tuesday night, Leeds United went five points ahead at the top with an impressive 4-0 win over Watford at Vicarage Road.

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